Moon and Star
by randgris
Summary: A simple quest to find rare items brings Hoshi to a dingy shop in Payon. What she finds there is certainly rare, but neither what she expected nor bargained for.


I don't own Ragnarok Online. Copyright Gravity, k thnx.

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"What is this?"

A gentle clinking of metal sounded as an assassin cross, dark eyes narrowed in curiosity, observed a delicate looking necklace of gold. An amethyst was set in the center of the pendant, dusty, but otherwise in good shape.

"Ah, one of my rarest, miss," the merchant next to the cart said enthusiastically. The assassin raised a silky black brow. "Comes from deep inside the somatology lab-"

"If this is one of your rarest, then I'm wasting my time here." the assassin interrupted, dropping the necklace back into the merchant's cart carelessly. Without waiting for the merchant to respond, she continued along her way amongst the Payon marketplace. Though none of the shops seemed to have anything she found herself interested in, she knew that she would find something special.

Something no one else had.

After all, she wouldn't have traveled from Geffen to Payon for just anything – even if it was just a hunch that she was going off of. Though some might consider a hunch to be something easily disregarded, the assassin cross always listened to her instincts. It was an ideal her mother had taught her long ago, before passing away, and the assassin had lived by that idea since.

"'Scuse me little lady, can I interest you in buying a pet today?" a low drawl caught the assassin's attention. She turned to face the speaker, a lanky whitesmith with a cowboy hat pulled down almost completely over his eyes.

"I beg your pardon?" the assassin responded blankly. The whitesmith laughed, a husky chuckle that made the assassin feel uneasy.

"Name's Devi," he said cheerfully, reaching out to shake the assassin's hand. Reluctantly, she took it. "Pleasure to meet ya."

"Hoshi." was the assassin's only response. She let her dark eyes travel over the entrance to the whitesmith's shop, then raised a brow at him, as though waiting for him to go on.

"Well, why don't ya step inside, see if you can find anything to tickle your fancy?" Devi asked, sauntering backward, through the swinging door that led into his shop. After a brief pause, Hoshi followed.

Inside was dark, with glass enclosures lining the walls. Hoshi blinked rapidly, waiting for her eyes to adjust. "Don't often see your kind 'round these parts, where ya come from?" the whitesmith asked, leaning back against a counter. Hoshi didn't answer, instead moving toward the nearest glass case. Inside sat a small lunatic, looking up at the newcomer with interest.

"Pets, you say." Hoshi stated, her eyes traveling around the shop. The décor was minimal, as was the lighting. It looked as though the shop hadn't been truly cleaned in ages.

"Caught and tamed them all." Devi replied proudly, coming to stand next to the assassin. His eyes traveled over her petite form with mild interest, before resting on the lunatic in front of her. "You like him? He's on sale, only 15,000 zeny."

"A bit steep for something I could catch myself." Hoshi replied.

"Heh, maybe so, maybe so. But you'll find something here, I think, that'll interest ya," he said with another low chuckle. Hoshi shifted her gaze from the lunatic to the other cases, then began to walk slowly around, studying the inhabitants. Nothing unusual for a pet shop – a few poring, a few lunatics, a drops and a spore, then a couple of shelves dedicated to pet tames. Hoshi paused to muse over a soft apron, running her fingers over the plush cloth.

Appreciating the fact that the whitesmith had apparently chosen to cut out the chit-chat, Hoshi continued her venture around the store, her boots echoing loudly on the dusty wooden floor. _A zherlthsh_, she mused to herself, looking at the creature that had once been the mistress of a prison. She looked out of place in a case, stripped of – _well, not her humanity, but she's too strong, too proud to be locked up behind glass._

"How quickly does a Zherlthsh usually sell?"

"Oh, a couple of days, maybe a week. They're pretty expensive, but a mighty loyal pet to have around." Devi answered, not moving from the front counter. Hoshi brushed her dark locks out of her face, her black eyes meeting the vivid gold of the zherlthsh. For a moment, she felt a faint sorrow for the creature, trapped in such a small space, not knowing or understanding truly what was happening, only that this wasn't where she belonged. _Although it's better than what would await her, should a traveler have come to find her in the ruins of the prison_, Hoshi reasoned to herself. She averted her eyes, circling the shop once more.

"Quite a collection. You must travel a lot."

"A fair bit. Find something ya like?"

"No."

"That's a shame. I've got a few more in back, if ya want like a look at 'em. Things that haven't sold, not too popular anymore, the like." Devi said, motioning to a curtain that Hoshi hadn't noticed before. She hesitated, then shrugged.

"All right."

The two stepped through the curtain to a much darker, dingier room, lined not with class cases, but cages. Hoshi frowned as she looked around at the creatures for sale, wondering how long they had been away from sunlight and cleanliness. She didn't speak her thoughts aloud, instead surveying a deviruchi that looked as though it hadn't eaten in months, at the very least. _In it for the money, I suppose, not because he enjoys it._

"You look bothered, Missy. Somethin' wrong?" the whitesmith asked, leaning down to survey Hoshi more closely. She took a step back, shaking her head.

"Thinking." she responded nonchalantly, taking another few steps back, then turning away from the male before her.

Immediately, her dark eyes met a pair of light, silvery eyes that seemed to almost glow in the darkness of the room. They watched her unblinkingly, a distinct trace of sorrow behind black lashes, an almost haunted look that caught Hoshi by surprise. She stepped closer to the cage, frowning deeply as she realized that the bongun contained within needed a space nearly three times the size of the one he was in. "Hey there." she said softly, resting her hand on the small black bars.

The bongun's eyes followed her hand, though not with curiosity, but what appeared to be suspicion. "How much is he?"

"Oh, that one?" Devi asked, scratching his chin. "Not too much, had him a while. No one seems to want him, to tell ya the truth."

"Why not?" Hoshi asked, not taking her eyes away from the slender face of the creature before her. _What,_ she wondered, _could have happened to him to make him look so sad?_

"He doesn't talk," Devi replied, moving over to the cage, unlocking it, and opening the door. "Doesn't really do much of anything, tell ya the truth. He was a hard one to catch though, so I won't take under 50,000 for him."

"Deal." Hoshi said, not really paying attention to what the whitesmith was saying. She reached her hand out to the bongun, who didn't move except to shift his attention back to her face. "Come on, I'm not gonna hurt you." she murmured softly, moving her hand a little closer. The bongun tilted his head, but otherwise didn't move.

"I tell ya what, Missy," Devi said, laughing softly. "I'll wait for ya out front, if ya don't give up on this'un, you can pay when he comes outta there."

"Jerk," Hoshi muttered as the whitesmith disappeared behind the curtain, still chuckling softly. She returned her attention to the bongun, who was watching her motionlessly. With a soft sigh, she dropped her hand. "Don't you want out of there? It's gotta be cramped, you can't even stretch your legs."

The assassin cross was unsurprised when she received no answer. Not sure what to do – she didn't have much experience when it came to pets – Hoshi seated herself in front of the cage, not breaking eye contact with the bongun. Cautiously, he moved forward to the door, still watching the female before him intently. His expression was no longer suspicious; Hoshi thought she could see a spark of curiosity, but she wouldn't put it past wishful thinking. At least, not yet.

"You hungry?" Hoshi asked, digging in her backpack to see if there was anything suitable for a bongun to eat. _Apple, red herb, green herb, deadly poison, awakening potion_, she thought as she shifted items around. A soft tug on her clothes caused her to jump, slightly startled. She raised her eyes to the bongun, who was looking at her imploringly, desperation evident in his face. She paused in rummaging, then reached out to lie her hand over his. "You want out of here, don't you?" the bongun nodded, again startling Hoshi. "All right then. Come with me, I'll take care of you." she murmured, getting to her feet.

The bongun followed suit, albeit slowly, as though it had been a period of time since he had stood. Judging by the rest of the monsters that were around her, Hoshi wouldn't had doubted it. Silently, she again held out her hand for the bongun to take. He wrapped his fingers around hers, his eyes lowered to the ground, and followed her silently into the front room.

"Oh, he came out for you? That was fast, I haven't been able to get 'im outta there forever." Devi mused. He was leaning on the counter once more, on brow raised at the sight of the bongun holding onto Hoshi's hand.

"Talent, I suppose" Hoshi replied coolly, lying a handful of coins on the counter. "What does he eat?"

"Straight to the point, ain't ya?" Devi asked with a grin, taking the coins and giving back change. "They'll eat anything you eat, I s'pose. Fruit, vegetables, meat, breads. Don't matter."

"I see." Hoshi shrugged, pocketing her change, then nodding to the whitesmith.

"Well, thank ya very much, Missy. I hope he's found a good home."

_Better than the home you gave him_, Hoshi thought grumpily, but she exited the shop in silence. She gripped the bongun's hand tighter as they moved into the crowd, not wanting to lose him in the sea of people. It didn't seem likely that she would, however; he kept close to her, as though afraid that if they got too far apart, he'd be lost.

As they moved through the shops, Hoshi made a few small purchases; some food, potions, a new dagger, and a new pair of boots. The ones she was wearing were old and worn, as she'd had them ever since she'd become an assassin cross. The bongun tagged along in silence, his eyes moving over the different objects that the shops had, but not showing any real interest in any one item in particular.

Only a few short moments later, Hoshi opened the door to the room she had rented at Payon's inn. She locked the door behind herself, then motioned in the general direction of the seating. "You can sit if you want, or stand. Doesn't matter," she shrugged, pulling off her boots, then sitting on her bed. The bongun watched her, then took a seat next to her. "Are you hungry?" she asked. The bongun nodded.

Hoshi reached over, grabbing a shopping bag, then handed it to the bongun. "Eat whatever you like," she said, resuming her seat. He tilted his head, then opened the bag, taking out an orange. He ate it in silence, slowly, and Hoshi wondered how long it had been since he had a meal that could even count as truly edible. "Do you have a name?"

Predictably, the bongun looked at her in silence, then merely shook his head. Feeling slightly at a loss, Hoshi leaned back on her hands. She'd never had a pet before. Didn't they normally have strange names, like Bubbles and Fluffy? She was relatively certain that those wouldn't be suitable names for her new pet – although, she couldn't bring herself to really look at the bongun as a pet. He was to human-like, and his eyes held human emotions that the assassin cross could identify with all too well.

The pair of them watched each other for some time, Hoshi finding herself repeatedly drawn into the silvery eyes of her new companion. She wondered where he had come from, originally, and what he'd experienced in his life. Payon was too unfamiliar an area for her, and she'd only heard vague tales of the bongun. _Although_, she thought wryly, _I'm not likely to find out any time soon._

"Well then," she said slowly, remembering the way his eyes had seemed to glow in the shop, like the moon in the velvet black sky. "I'll call you Tsuki."


End file.
